The present invention relates to a covering system for a trailer and any cargo loaded thereon, and finds its greatest utility in the side to side covering and uncovering of cargo on a flat bed trailer.
Protecting cargo from the weather is a major concern of the trucking industry. A trucker may depart a warehouse with cargo loaded and a clear weather forecast, only to encounter inclement weather along the route. The handling of a heavy tarp is a burden at any location, and is particularly problematic along side the roadway, after dark or in a blinding snowstorm. High winds are a particular problem because of the sail area presented by the tarp and the limited number of available hands when in transit to handle the tarp from various positions alongside or atop the trailer. Serious injury has been known to result from an attempt by a driver to single handedly manipulate a tarp atop a trailer or on the cargo on a trailer in high winds.
There have been many attempts to address this issue by providing a mechanical apparatus for covering a load. Where the trailer is an open topped box truck, the problem is less severe, and mechanical tarp unrolling systems are well known. For example, the U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,528 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,806,911 to Haddad, Jr., the O""Daniel U.S. Pat. No. 5,829,818, and the Russell et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,882 disclose a pivoting arm disposed alongside both sides of the open top box for mechanically unrolling a tarp from a roller carried between the distal ends of the pivoting arms. Such systems are generally not intended to protect the cargo from the weather, but to prevent the truck""s cargo (i.e., gravel, sand, trash, etc.) from spilling onto the highway and damaging other vehicles. Such systems generally depend on the sides of the box for support of the system and for supporting and thus controlling the tarp as it is unrolled, and are unsuited for flat bed trailers.
Mechanical covers for such open top truck boxes have also been proposed for side to side covering of the box. For example, the Tsukamoto U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,208; the Wilkens U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,901; and the Ellingson U.S. Pat. No. 4,691,957 disclose box top covering systems where the tarp is unrolled from a roller carried between the distal ends of arms pivotably mounted at the ends of the boxes. In these systems, the vertical sides of the truck body provide support and thus help control the tarp as it is unrolled across the top of the box, and such systems are unsuited for flat bed trailers.
The problem is particularly acute for flat bed trailers where the cargo is generally loaded by fork lift from the sides of the trailer. For example, the Trickett U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,323 discloses a roller for a tarp which is positioned at the front of a trailer from which a tarp may be pulled rearward to cover a trailer from front to back with any cargo loaded thereon. However, the truck driver must stand atop the trailer and its cargo and manually pull on the tarp over the cargo the length of the trailer. The danger of being blown off of the top of the cargo as the tarp unwraps is significant in windy conditions, and the physical strength required may be beyond that of many drivers.
Accordingly it is an object of the present invention to provide novel systems and methods which obviate many of the deficiencies of known trailer covering systems, and which allows the cargo to be covered in a safe efficient manner anywhere along the route.
It is another object of the present invention to provide novel systems and methods for covering a trailer and any cargo loaded thereon.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide novel cargo covering systems and methods in which the covering and uncovering may be completed by a single truck driver.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a novel cargo covering systems and methods for a flat bed trailer in which the covering and uncovering mechanism does not interfere with the loading and unloading of the trailer cargo, from either side or from above.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a novel cargo covering system and method which may be selectively used with different trailers.
Another problem encountered by truck drivers occurs during the securing of the cargo to the trailer using straps or other tie down means. Straps must be properly positioned over the cargo, attached to the trailer, and then tightened to secure the cargo to the trailer prior to transport. Typically a truck driver will attempt to properly position the straps over the cargo by throwing the straps from one side of the truck to the other. Many times the result is that some straps land on top of the cargo, some straps are twisted, and other straps fall between the cargo requiring the truck driver to climb atop the trailer and cargo and manually pull the straps over the cargo. Unlike the cover, the straps are easy to pull and have a small sail area, but the chance of injury increases whenever a driver must climb and stand atop the trailer and cargo, or retrieve a strap caught on or between the cargo. In addition, many straps have metal ends or buckles and a person positioned on the opposite side of the trailer, may be injured if struck by a strap thrown over the cargo.
Accordingly, it is yet still another object of the present invention is to provide a novel cargo covering system and method in which straps or other tie down means may be selectively positioned over the cargo loaded on a trailer to secure the cargo to the trailer and/or to secure the cargo cover to the trailer or the cargo.
These and many other objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art to which the invention pertains from a perusal of the claims, the appended drawings, and the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.